The resistance is really showing their stuff now.
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BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) – A powerful explosion, apparently from a car bomb, went off in central Baghdad on Wednesday, killing 27 people and wounding 41, according to senior U.S. military officials.
The blast virtually destroyed the Mount Lebanon Hotel and damaged a number of houses and offices nearby.
Col. Ralph Baker, a U.S. Army spokesman, said officials believe the car bomb was “in excess of 1,000 pounds.”
Most of the dead were in the houses and shops that surrounded the residential hotel in the narrow street, Baker said. (Map of blast site)
“It’s a scene from hell here,” CNN Baghdad Bureau Chief Jane Arraf said. (On the Scene: Jane Arraf)
“People are crying and screaming and debris is everywhere,” Arraf said.
The blast rocked the Karrada neighborhood in central Baghdad about 8:10 p.m. (12:10 p.m. ET), leaving a large crater in front of where the hotel had stood.
Ambulances rushed away with casualties. Rescuers searched amid burning timbers and crumpled brick for survivors.
“I heard the explosion and I ran down the street, and saw many, many people killed. There were children dead,” Raad Abdul Karim, 30, told Reuters. “They are ordinary families. I don’t know why this happened.”
Iraqi police and coalition soldiers cordoned off the area. U.S. soldiers from the nearby “Green Zone” attempted to go into the area to rescue victims but were driven back by angry Iraqis.
U.S. soldiers were shouting to people to get back, because of concerns that there could be additional explosives.
The explosion occurred near Firdos Square, where the large statue of Saddam Hussein was pulled down in early April.
The location, in a busy area of the city, has been the scene of attacks in the past.
The unfortified, unprotected hotel is a residence hotel that often houses business people.
The blast scene is also close to the Palestine Hotel, where many foreign journalists stay.
Members of Iraq’s Sunni, Shiite and Kurdish communities live in the area.
Adnan Pachachi, a member of the Iraqi Governing Council, said he is appalled and distressed, adding “I don’t know the purpose of this outrage or what’s the aim.”
“Whenever they find a soft target with a lot of people they want to maximize the losses, especially fatalities.”
“There is no absolute defense” against this kind of bombing, he said.
Calling the hotel a “soft target,” Mowaffak al Rubaie said “the aim” is to stop the political process and promote instability.
“The target is democracy in Iraq,” said Rubaie, another council member.
In Washington, Bush administration spokesman Scott McClellan told reporters, “We do not have details on who was responsible for this latest attack in Baghdad, but all indications are that this is a terrible terrorist attack on innocent civilians.”
The attack comes as coalition forces began Operation Iron Promise, a citywide sweep for insurgents almost one year after the war started.
http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/03/17/iraq.main/index.html